Appalachian State, Georgia Southern Leaving FCS For Sun Belt Conference

Mar 11, 2013; Hot Springs, AR, USA; Western Kentucky Hilltoppers celebrate after defeating the Florida International Panthers during the championship game of the Sun Belt Conference tournament at Summit Arena. Western Kentucky defeated Florida International 65-63. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports /

With conference realignment becoming more popular every day in college football, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) will be getting two of the top teams from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) in the coming years. The FCS, still known by some as Division I-AA, will be sending two of their premiere programs to the FBS, with an announcement coming as early as Wednesday.

Appalachian State and Georgia Southern will be the two teams joining the FBS as members of the Sun Belt Conference. The Winston-Salem Journal’s Tommy Bowman confirmed Appalachian State’s departure from the FCS earlier today.

The two schools will become Sun Belt members for the 2014 season, with the football teams holding off until 2015 to enter their conferences. Appalachian State and Georgia Southern will immediately be eligible for the conference championship and postseason immediately upon their arrival.

With Appalachian State and Georgia Southern joining the Sun Belt, the conference will jump to ten teams.

The two schools will join Arkansas State, Georgia State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama, Texas State, Troy and Western Kentucky. In basketball, Arkansas-Little Rock and Texas-Arlington will join conference play.

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